How to Stretch Your Food Budget

Many if not most of us are on limited budgets these days. With the economy in bad shape, learning how to stretch your food budget has become imperative. It can be the difference between having enough food and not having enough food to last until the next paycheck comes in. While you may have thought that this article would be about coupons, it isn't. Instead, I'm going to show you how to put together a grocery list that gives you a varied amount of foods for a lower cost than you might spend were you to just randomly go shopping and buy whatever struck your fancy.

So what kinds of foods can you put on your grocery list that will stretch your the money in your food budget.

1. Bacon. Now before everyone goes screaming that bacon isn't all that healthy, keep in mind I'm not advocating eating a lot of it. Also, remember you can and should drain the fat from bacon before eating it. Bacon is extremely versatile when it comes to stretching your food budget because it is one of those foods that can be used for a variety of meals. You can eat it for breakfast, make BLT's with it, and even cook it until it's crunchy and then crumble it up to put on salads. These are just a few of the things you can do with bacon. Often stores have sales on bacon where you can get 2 packages for $5 or $6. That's a lot of bacon and you can use it to give variety to your meals.

2. Ground Beef. This is another very versatile food because you can do so much with it. I suggest buying in bulk and then splitting the package up into freezer bags and freezing it. This way it will keep and you can just defrost however much you need. Most grocery stores even have the lower fat content beef available in bulk now. Ground beef can be used for soups, tacos and burritos, hamburgers, casseroles, omlets, stuffed bell peppers, and stuffed cabbage just to name a few uses. Really with hamburger, the possibilities are only as limited as your imagination.

3. Green peppers. Green peppers are not only healthy, but they can be used in a variety of ways. While you can snack on them by themselves and I encourage that, they also are good in other ways. Green peppers can be stuffed with a ground beef, tomato sauce and rice medly to make stuffed green peppers to name one. They are also good for making homemade spaghetti sauce, and spanish rice. They are also great for putting in soups to give them just a bit of extra flavor, you just don't want to use too much or they can kill the flavor of your soup! The same goes for adding green pepper to casseroles.

4. Onions. While most of us don't eat onions raw (except for my great-grandfather, he loved to eat them raw!), they are another good choice because they are both healthy, and they can be used in a variety of ways to help season food. They can be used to top hamburgers, flavor spaghetti sauce, casseroles, and omlets. The other nice thing is that they are very inexpensive, and you don't need to buy a lot of them because a little goes a long way.

5. Tomatoes. Tomatoes are another very versatile food. They are good as part of salads, tacos and burritos, soups, salads, hamburgers, and salsa just to give you an idea where to start. Of course they also taste wonderful all by themselves as well!

6. Cheese. When I say cheese, I'm not talking about the mostly oil American cheese slices. Those are not only not particularly healthy, but they don't have much good flavor either in my opinion. I love sharp cheddar myself which is actually supposed to be slightly lower in fat content than medium cheddar, but you can choose whichever type you like. While you can get more than one type of cheese, I personally just buy one type and then use it for everything. Cheese is great for grilled cheese sandwhiches, casseroles, sandwiches, salads, tacos, burritos, nachos and snacks by itself. Cheese is a great way to add flavor to many of your favorite dishes and can easily be stretched over a long period between paychecks.

7. Roast. If you have a crockpot, a large roast can be the perfect way to help stretch your food budget and create variety in your diet. Add a 10 lb bag of potatoes, and 10 or 12 carrots along with a bit of onion and you've got the makings for helping to stretch your food even more. What I love about making a roast this way is that you can have it as roast for a meal the first night along with the vegetables and gravy, but then the leftovers can be used for at least a couple more meals depending on the size of your family. The left over potatoes and carrots make great hashbrowns when fried up in your cast iron skillet. You can use left over roast beef for sandwhiches, making barbecued beef for hot sandwhiches, as well as hot roast beef sandwhiches with gravy. I also tend to keep the drippings left over to make extra gravy later. You can also cut the roast beef up, add a bag of frozen stew vegetables and a can of green beans, corn and tomatoes to your crockpot and have a pot of homemade vegetable beef soup in just 8 hours. Again stretching what you can do with leftover roast and vegetables is only as limited as your imagination.

8. Frozen fruit. One way to get around having to buy expensive fresh fruit, especially when your favorite fruits are not always in season is to eat frozen fruit. I usually avoid canned fruit because of the added sugary syrup. While you can allow frozen fruit to defrost and then eat it, it tastes better in my opinion when used to make smoothies instead. I like to buy frozen blackberries and strawberries in particular because they are high in antioxidants. But you can also get a variety of frozen fruits such as blueberries, pineapple and mango to name a few. Most stores carry large plastic bags of frozen fruit that you can then store in your freezer and keep for nearly forever.

9. Yogurt. Yogurt has to be one of my favorite foods because it is a great way to get your sweet tooth taken care of in a healthy way. When you add yogurt, a bit of milk, ice and your favorite frozen fruit to a blender you get something that comes out tasting like fresh frozen fruit icecream. Which is otherwise known as a smoothie of course! Whether you eat it plain or in a smoothie yogurt is a great way to have healthy snacks on hand and to stretch your budget. Grocery stores often run sales where you can purchase 10 single serve containers of yogurt for like $5 so it can be a very good buy. However, even when it's not on sale if you buy your store's generic brand it ususally costs less than sixty cents a container which is still a good buy. Also, yogurt will keep for a while in the refrigerator, just remember to eat it either by or shortly after the date stamped on the container.

10. Milk. Milk is another of those foods that comes in handy because it's not just used for drinking. Many recipes call for milk so it's always a good idea to have a gallon or two depending on your family size on hand.

11. Whole grain breads. While bread is mostly used for sandwhiches and toast, we still need it in our diet so we get the grains we need. The nice thing about bread is that you can buy in bulk and then freeze the extra loaves you purchase. Buying bread when it's on sale and then freezing it, is the best way to save money on bread.

12. Brown rice. Brown rice is another versatile whole grain because you can use it in casseroles, soups, and as simply a side dish. I personally also like to use it by putting chunky soup or stew on it to bulk it up for a meal. This is a great idea when you have leftovers , or if you purchased cans of chunky soup or stew on sale!

13. Eggs. There are so many things to do with eggs it just boggles the mind. They are used in a ton of different recipes, and of course you can eat them by themselves as well. Eggs are used in sandwhiches, salads, omlets, breads and cakes if you like to bake from scratch and just a whole host of other ways as well that are too numerous to name here.

14. Ham. I absolutely love the taste of ham, particularly in homemade split pea or navy bean and ham soup which are just two of the many uses for ham. You can also use ham in sandwhiches, omlets and of course just by itself as a bacon substitute.

15. Cream soups. Cream soups are great by themselves, but my favorite use for them is in casseroles. With a bit of pasta, the meat of my choice, onion and green pepper and some milk I can come up with a pretty tasty casserole. Cream soups are versatile and can be a great base for a number of dishes.

16. Whole grain pasta. Whole grain pasta is a food that can really help to stretch your budget and bulk up your meals in a healthy way. Pasta is great as a part of salads, casseroles, and spaghetti and will help to stretch your food budget drastically. Especially when you buy in bulk because pasta will keep for virtually forever!

As you can see, the idea is to purchase foods that can be used in more than one way. This is the best way to stretch your food budget and not only save the most money, but to eat in a relatively healthy fashion.